Have you ever heard the phrase, "writing is re-writing"?
It's an important principle for people learning to write.
Why?
Because there's a destructive fantasy going around:
The fantasy that the first draft is good enough.
The truth:
The First Draft Usually Stinks!
It needs revision. Often lots of it.
Believe it or not, it's the same thing with reading books.
Yes, you can use the Magnetic Memory Method to memorize a textbook. It's an incredible skill to have.
But often enough … one read just doesn't cut it.
And there are reasons why. Here are 11 of them.
#1: Context Is King
Get this:
Once upon a time, I could only afford to take one course at university. I had to work three jobs just to afford the tuition!
Looked at ironically, I was lucky I could afford to take just one course.
Why?
Because all those jobs left me with time enough to complete the reading requirements of only the one course!
All joking aside, I read Plato's Republic that year while walking up and down the hill to the university. It was all the time I had.
But it was fitting because many of the dialogues that make up The Republic take place outdoors. And although it's Aristotle who belongs more closely to the Peripatetic School of philosophy, walking around is … walking around.
And because I'm a diligent reader who enjoys the slower process of MMM Bibliomancy as taught in the Magnetic Memory Method Masterplan or briefly here, I let the books I need to read absorb me based on the context of reading.
The second time I read The Republic was as a professor living in Saarbrücken, Germany. This time I read The Republic as an audiobook, also while walking up and down a hill.
But even though the mechanical operation of walking from place to place was the same, I was reading The Republic this time as an educator, not a student.
And instead of reading The Republic in the context of other philosophers (like St. Augustine and Hobbes), I was re-reading it during a period when I was dialed deep into Eckhart Tolle and Wayne Dyer.
Context changes everything and that means the same book was actually very different.
The result?
Context unlocked thoughts about its contents and "unhid" more interesting details to remember.
Alethia for unhiding is a fancy ancient Greek word you're going to want to add to your collection, by the way. Keep it and context in mind as your go-to rereading strategy. You'll be delighted by what happens!
#2: The Organic Source Of New Ideas Re-generates Itself
You know that many of your cells regenerate, right?
Not all of them, but enough that you can make the claim that we have a chronological age and a cellular age.
And if you wait long enough to re-read a book, you're technically not the same the person as the first time you read the book. Sure, your heart, brain and bones are pretty much the same, but the rest?
A whole new you.
And that means completely new arms, hands and eyes that deliver the book to your brain.
Isn't that exciting to think about?
#3: Why Something Most People Dread Is Really The Icing On The Cake
Most people regret getting older.
I've never understood why, but I guess it's because they don't value the power of re-reading books.
Think about it:
As you age, you collect
Published on 8 years, 7 months ago
If you like Podbriefly.com, please consider donating to support the ongoing development.
Donate